Silverwolf Comics was a California-based American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comic book publisher founded by Kris Silver in the mid-’80s with titles and characters created entirely by him. Among the titles it published during its run were Dark Assassin, Guillotine, Legion X-1, Port, and Victim.

The company is probably best known for giving the first popular exposure to the work of the artist Tim Vigil

Tim Vigil

Timothy B. Vigil is a comic book artist, mostly working in the horror/adult genre. His main graphic novel Faust was adapted by Brian Yuzna as the 2001 movie Faust: Love of the Damned. The followup Faust: Book of M, was nominated for the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative...

 in his work on another Silverwolf title, Grips. Grips is one of a handful of titles that survived beyond the first few issues. Another notable distinction of Grips was that its main character’s alter-ego was a comic book illustrator whose own creation, dubbed Fat Ninja, was also put out as a title by Silverwolf (in actuality written by Kris Silver). Fat Ninja was probably Silverwolf’s second most popular title after Grips. Tim Vigil also drew the first two issues of Nightmaster(only the first issue was published by Silverwolf. The seond issue was published as a serial within the Greater Mercury Comics anthology GMC Action.) as well as the first(and only) two issues of Dragon Quest.

The company also published some of the first work by the artist Ron Lim

Ron Lim

Ronald "Ron" Lim is an American comic book artist living in Sacramento, California.-Biography:Ron Lim's first published work was an independent comic book entitled Ex-Mutants, which he worked on from 1986-1988....

. Lim drew the first four page Grips story in the pages of Silverwolf Bulletin #2 and reportedly also drew the first issue of Grips before Tim Vigil was hired and he re-drew the book. Lim’s first published work(of a full comic book) came in the first issue of another title, Eradicators. Silverwolf was the first company to hire artist Rob Liefeld

Rob Liefeld

Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....

, though he never actually had any work published (he was hired to draw the first issue of Stech but he dropped out after finding other work and was replaced by Lorenzo Lizanna (later of Artline Studios).

Computer lettering

The lettering

Letterer

A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...

 in Silverwolf comics was unusual, in that it was typed on an Apple Macintosh and printed with an Apple ImageWriter printer in the Geneva font. The result was less professional-looking than traditional comics hand-lettering, but was more cost-effective. The primitive computer lettering was a way to save money on letterers. In fact, the lettering, in its own way, gave Silverwolf’s comics a memorable style element that was consistent throughout all Silverwolf titles.

Cover color bands

Another noteworthy distinction of Silverwolf’s books was the solid band of color that surrounded every book’s cover art. These aspects help make comics by Silverwolf a time capsule/cultural artifact of the 1980s.

Titles published

• Dark Assassin
• Edge
• Eradicators
• Fat Ninja
• Grips
• Guillotine
• Legion X-1
• Legion X-2
• Port
• Stech
• Victim
• Thieves
• Fantastic Fables
• Nightmaster
• Silverwolf Art Series
• Silverwolf Talent Search
• Silverwolf Bulletin

Silverwolf also published roleplaying games:

• Holocaustic Dungeons
• Arena

...as well as portfolios:

• Grips Portfolio (five different ones by Tim Vigil)
• Eradicators (by Ron Lim)

As Greater Mercury

• Daemon’s Blood
• Dark Assassin (later Dark Assassin and Chance)
• Tink (under the imprint of “Venusian Press”)
• Grips
• Grips Adventures
• Legion X-1
• Legion X-2
• Psychopath (two series, the latter under “Greater Mercury” and the first series under the “Venusian Press” line)
• Edge
• Greater Mercury Comics Action (continued from Silverwolf’s Grips which ended with the fourth issue, GMC Action began with #5)
• Fat Ninja

Various portfolios were also published by Greater Mercury.

Greater Mercury Comics

Silverwolf ceased publication in 1987, but re-emerged as Greater Mercury Comics in 1989, publishing more material and characters created by Silver, until GMC ceased publishing in the early 1990s. Other notable talents that got their start at Greater Mercury include Brandon McKinney(who actually started at Silverwolf drawing 'Legion X-1'), Shane White

Shane White

Shane White is an American illustrator, comic book writer/artist and author from Massena, New York.-Comics:Shane White's earliest comic work appeared in small-press comics in the mid-80s. His first professional penciling gig was for Silverwolf Comics' Eradicators in 1990...

, Roman Morales III and Scott Reed

Scott Reed (comics)

Scott Reeds earliest comic work as a writer and inker appeared in Silverwolf Comics' Eradicators in 1990. In 1993, he worked on-staff as an inker for Malibu Comics until 1996, when he was hired by Dark Horse Comics to provide inks for Godzilla and G.I. Joe Extreme comic book mini-series...

.